Pig farmer wins race to keep Island Lake from building well nearby

Whoever said "you can't fight village hall," hasn't met Bob Wargaski.

The Wauconda Township resident's showdown with Island Lake came to a surprising climax Tuesday when the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ruled the village will have to look elsewhere to build a community well and water tower.

It marked the end of a three-year battle for Wargaski, who had raced to build a hog farm on his unincorporated property off Dowell Road to prevent the village from developing land across the street. He argued the village well would draw down his private well, and the water tower would affect his property values.

For a while it seemed the 61-year-old Wargaski would be cited for violating state law by storing animal feces within 400 feet of a potential public water source. However, in its ruling, the IEPA said the village's test well did not meet standards to be converted into a permanent community well.

"I'm flabbergasted," he said. "It's not only a victory for Bob Wargaski, it's a victory for the citizens of Island Lake because the well and water tower can now go into the cheapest and best place as originally designated by the village engineer."

Wargaski said the village also won't have to spend money fighting his lawsuit to stop the water tower project.

Mayor Tom Hyde refused to comment, saying he was not aware the village permit application for the well was denied.

Hyde said the village is awaiting resolution on its countersuit, claiming Wargaski's pig farm would be a public nuisance that could contaminate village water supplies.

In May, the IEPA granted Island Lake permission to convert its test well off Dowell Road into a permanent one. But in December, the agency discovered the test well's casing had been previously used on other projects, violating standards for a potable water source.

"Our standards require that it be new casing," said Jerry Kuhn, permit section manager for the IEPA's Division of Public Water Supplies. "Originally, the well wasn't put in with the intent to develop it so there was no concern about the casing."

Since Wargaski built his hog shed with permission from the state Department of Agriculture and has raised pigs there since November, Kuhn said, Island Lake must now comply with setbacks required by state law.

"They'll (Island Lake) have to abandon the well and cap it," Kuhn said. "They'll have to stay 400 feet away from the hog operations if they intend to develop another well."

Island Lake Trustee Rich Garling was not pleased the $5 million plan was upset by an oversight.

"We put in an old pipe rather than a brand new one," Garling said. "Somebody messed up on that end and we are trying to determine what happened there. This is the kind of mistake that we pay people not to make."

He said drilling another well will cost taxpayers more money, which could have been avoided if the village and Wargaski worked together from the start.

"(Wargaski) has not shown any interest in working with us," Garling said. "His whole interest is what can he do to increase the value of his property. This has nothing to do with protecting the water supply. If he was so worried about protecting the water supply, then why did he put the pigs in there. It's going to harm our water supply and it's certainly going to harm his."